Affordable Care Act notice of coverage deadline extended

Employers have an extra month to give forms to employees

Posted November 23, 2016

Employers must provide certain tax forms to employees by January 31. That would normally include a notice of health coverage offered, as required by the Affordable Care Act. However, the IRS recently extended that deadline by 30 days. Employers now have until March 2 to provide those notices of coverage to employees.

A large employer must provide each employee with a 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Insurance. A small self-insured employer must provide each employee with a 1095-B, Health Coverage.

Employers should be aware that even though the deadline for providing those forms to employees has been extended, the deadline for filing those forms with the IRS remains unchanged. It is February 28 for employers filing paper copies, or March 31 for employers filing electronic copies.

The extension was announced in IRS Notice 2016-70.

This article was written by Ed Zalewski of J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.